NetWare Care

The original scripts I wrote were to save time and facilitate an eDirectory upgrade. The scripts have evolved into simple, basic, time saving proactive management scripts. I wanted to share the scripts with the Cool Solutions readers (with the usual disclaimers of use at your own risk). I’ve since updated the scripts, revisited and retouched them for different needs, but here is the latest that i’ve been using. I use the %if variable command now on NetWare 6 and I’ve removed all ‘Wait for text’ commands that were reading the system console for text strings, and replaced them with pauses. The NetWare 6 Logger Screen changed where the output was going, and rather than get fancy I just went with the pause.

AT a minimum, you’ll need STUFFKEY.NLM and TOOLBOX.NLM. I also use DELAYCMD.NLM and they’re all ideally scheduled with CRON (I’ve included 3 example CRONTAB files). I’ve included an old version of TOOLBOX.NLM I used to use in case you’re not patched to the latest and greatest SP levels on all the servers you are working with. Place all of the .sky and .ncf files you want to use in SYS:SYSTEM.

NOTE: If using the new TOOLBOX.NLM, load it with a /NL switch so you won’t have to login locally. My scripts use the /NL. I put a .sky extension on each stuffkey script. The STUFFKEY readme explains how to call each script.

Some of these scripts create separate log files after each process runs on the server. For those that don’t, you can add the appropriate commands as you see fit. It was useful at one time to keep all the logs in one standard DIR. Your needs may be different. I used the COLLECT.BAT batch file (included here) to then map and collect each log file from each server. CALL it from another batch file including your SERVERNAME, i.e: CALL COLLECT SERVER1.

The NCFs included cover some general DSTRACE commands, and a DS-sched.NCF that can be used to call a combination of these scripts, and NCFs. – DS-DEFLT.NCF : sets DSTRACE options back to default– DS-local.ncf : DSREPAIR to repair local DS database– Netadchk.ncf : DSREPAIR to verify server network addresses– IDchk.ncf : DSREPAIR to repair remote server IDs (only useful in 4.x, obsolete in newer DS)– sch_sync.ncf : force schema sync– dssync.ncf : force heartbeat and a couple of others…– DSHealth.ncf : group of DSTRACE filters to call to get a general view of what’s going in at that time– DS-sched.ncf : MASTER schedule NCF, OR you can use CRON for ALL of these commands as you see fit. (use CRON…trust me)

These scripts and utilities, when combined with the use of a server management application like ADREM’s Server Manager or MK SOft’s Command Center for NetWare (and there are countless more apps i’m sure), can really be leveraged for some time saving procedures and maintenance. Look into it. You can find these other tools at http://www.netwarefiles.com/remoteservermgmt.htm.

Lastly, CRON is not the be-all end-all in NetWare scheduling. DO NOT forget about the scheduling options in NetWare 5 and NetWare 6. All of this can be scheduled and run from the Web management portal or Netware Remote Manager, i.e, http://yourserverIP:8009

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Disclaimer: This content is not supported by Micro Focus. It was contributed by a community member and is published "as is." It seems to have worked for at least one person, and might work for you. But please be sure to test it thoroughly before using it in a production environment.